Gate Exploration (6): The Sixth Statue
But is it really okay for us to just stay here like this?
“What else can we do? If something goes wrong while we’re moving, are you going to take responsibility?”
“Sigh, why does this stuff always happen right when we step inside?”
“...It’s no good. As expected, I can’t sense any response beyond the gate.”
After Zeon left, the remaining students settled exactly where they had first set foot and began their long wait. Some simply lamented the current situation, while others tried desperately to make contact with the outside. A few worried about the person who had gone ahead to scout.
“Do you think Zeon’s okay?”
“Of course he is. You saw it too, didn’t you?”
They were talking about the spar between Zeon and Garein Sieghart. That final strike he had shown them still lingered as a massive shock in the students’ minds.
“Still, we have no idea what kind of monster might show up here.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”
Mir spoke firmly to the teammate who still wore an anxious expression. In just the past few days, he had grown incomprehensibly stronger yet again. His growth rate was so explosive that even using simulations seemed questionable. Mir clicked her tongue despite herself.
Just how in the world did he get that strong?
These days he even walked around with a phantom beast hanging around his neck. His strength stood on a completely different level from everyone else. That relentless, explosive growth that kept climbing higher and higher made him seem less like a human and more like something that had transcended humanity.
Boom.
“Huh?”
“Whoa?!”
“V-vibration? What is that?!”
“Everyone calm down! It’s just a simple vibration!”
No. It’s not simple at all.
Mir realized it instantly. Zeon must have encountered a monster and was fighting it right now. For the shockwaves to reach this far, the battle couldn’t possibly be easy.
Should I go help him?
But was that really the right choice? She might be fine, but the rest of the team could end up becoming obstacles that only restricted his movements.
Crackle.
Urk?!
While she was still weighing her options, Mir’s entire body shook violently as if struck by a massive shock. She had to go there. There was evil in that direction—evil that absolutely had to be killed.
The instinctive cry made Mir’s eyes tremble intensely. It had never reacted this strongly before. Even the high-ranking demon she had seen from afar in the past hadn’t caused tremors like this!
“Zeon’s in danger.”
“Huh? Mir, what are you suddenly talking about?”
“I think we need to go to him.”
“Instead of staying here?”
She didn’t have time to answer. Mir shot forward like an arrow. The team members were startled by her sudden action, but they quickly understood the situation and hurried after her.
“W-wait for us!”
“Let’s go together!”
No matter what, if even Mir left this place, things would become truly dangerous. The team chased after her with everything they had so they wouldn’t lose sight of her.
“Watch out there!”
“I’ll block it, so attack now!”
“Casting in ten seconds!”
Monsters appeared along the way, but thanks to Mir’s assistance they managed the impressive feat of reaching Zeon without a single casualty.
“You… you didn’t run into a demon?”
“A demon?”
The moment she met Zeon, the trembling that had gripped her body vanished, and Mir could finally resolve the question that had arisen. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to hide it, but her power was speaking clearly. It said that the man standing before her had become a living prison, sealing away a calamity. A prison of flesh and the natural enemy of all disasters.
What on earth happened here?
She was confident it hadn’t taken her that long to reach this place. Yet he had already cleaned up the monsters even faster than that?
“The team leader fought all those monsters by himself and doesn’t even have a scratch!”
“As expected of the team leader! He’s incredible!”
“I didn’t really encounter any monsters on my way here, though?”
“What?! Then what were the ones we fought?!”
“Looks like we picked the wrong option. When I went down the safe path, no monsters appeared at all.”
At Zeon’s words, the entire team recalled their earlier struggles and fell into a gloomy silence. They had fought so desperately, yet apparently they could have moved without fighting at all.
“Ah, but there are five paths here.”
“There were only two before. The choices have really multiplied.”
“Team leader, which way were you planning to go?”
“I was heading for the center.”
In truth, every path led to the same destination, but the moment the others heard he had chosen a route without encountering any monsters, the anxiety and tension that had gripped them slowly began to unwind. The mere existence of Zeon had stabilized them psychologically.
So you were planning to fight while dragging those kids along.
“Guess I have to.”
We had already come this far. I couldn’t just send them back saying I didn’t need their help. Still, moving out immediately seemed a little much. Unlike me, the others had fought monsters on the way here. I could see several of them sporting injuries or looking low on stamina.
“Let’s rest here for a bit before we move on.”
“Yeah. Everyone must be exhausted after coming all this way.”
“Phew! We’re finally resting!”
“Ugh, my shoulders are killing me.”
“My calves feel like they’re about to explode.”
I took Mir—who was in relatively good shape—and started putting together a simple strategy.
“First, I’ll brief you on the teamwork of teams three and four.”
While listening to Mir’s explanation of how she had actually fought alongside them, I combined it with the enemy information I already knew to create the optimal battle plan.
“By the way, how many monsters did you guys run into on the way here?”
“Five.”
Five… That still wasn’t enough to trigger the special condition. The boss of this place would gain special power after the sixth monster was defeated. Naturally that would raise the difficulty, which would only put us at a disadvantage.
Ziiiing.
“What?”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“...Never mind.”
Ziiiing.
She’s going to bore a hole right through you at this rate.
Why is that kid acting like that?
For some reason, Mir’s gaze had been strangely piercing since earlier. Had I done something? But whenever I actually spoke to her, she just answered with her own questions, so I couldn’t even ask.
“Let’s get moving soon.”
“Okay.”
We had rested for roughly ten minutes. I felt bad for the team members who had just finished fighting, but we couldn’t afford to waste too much time here. Fortunately, thanks to Mir’s support during the monster fights, there wasn’t a single teammate too exhausted to participate in battle.
“I wonder where this gate actually ends.”
Once we cleared this five-way split and the path beyond it, that would be the end. So let’s just push a little further.
Of course, I never said any of that out loud. There was no way to explain how I knew this information. The fact that I hadn’t encountered any monsters on the way here would already be suspicious enough. If I revealed I also knew details about this place, in the worst-case scenario I could end up being labeled the mastermind behind everything.
“Everyone, let’s go.”
Step. Step.
“The atmosphere feels really different from before.”
“Ah! Look over there!”
“Isn’t that the monster we fought?”
“There’s one there too!”
“And over there!”
The pathway was lined with monster statues displayed like works of art. The students realized these were the very creatures they had fought and stared at the statues with wide-eyed fascination.
“You guys really went up against some tough ones.”
Every statue here had been carved from the monsters each group had defeated in their respective paths. That was how I could tell exactly what Mir and the others had hunted.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
We walked past the statues of the monsters the kids had fought.
“Wow, what is this one?”
“It’s not the one we killed.”
“It looks terrifying.”
“Isn’t it just a bird?”
Normally, after the fifth statue we should have opened the door leading to the mid-boss. But instead of a door, what greeted us was an unexpected sixth statue.
“What the…?”
The moment I saw its shape, I couldn’t hide my shock.
Why is Halpas here as a stone statue?
It wasn’t a statue of Bel Artos’s vessel—it was Halpas’s true form. Since I knew that appearance all too well, I couldn’t help but wonder why it was here.
Is Halpas being treated as one of the monsters in this place?
If that was the case, then we had defeated six monsters instead of five. The condition to activate its special gimmick had been fulfilled.
“There’s the door!”
“Everyone get ready!”
“Team leader, what should we do?”
We reached the original door with Halpas’s statue behind us. But I couldn’t bring myself to open it. Cold sweat ran down my back as I clenched my teeth.
This is bad.
I never imagined Halpas would count toward the condition. If we went in like this, there was a real chance someone could die.
Gulp.
Was it really okay to take the team inside with me?
“Zeon?”
“Y-yeah?”
“You don’t look so good.”
At Mir’s words I unconsciously touched my face. That was when I realized one important fact. I didn’t have to protect every single teammate by myself.
“Mir, just in case, let’s keep our eyes on the team the whole time we’re fighting.”
Even focusing entirely on the battle would barely be enough. Asking her to fight while also worrying about the others was basically asking to get hit. But Mir simply shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“That’s how I’ve been fighting the whole way here. It’s not like we had zero casualties by accident.”
“......”
Then she stepped closer so the others wouldn’t hear and whispered quietly.
“And even though I didn’t mention it, I shared some of my power with the kids. So they won’t die from any surprise attacks we didn’t anticipate.”
“...From the very beginning?”
“Obviously. I can’t stand by and watch anyone who isn’t a villain die right in front of me.”
With that, Mir lightly punched my shoulder with her fist. Her eyes burned with determination as she made her declaration.
“Today, not a single one of us is going to die. We’re all returning to the academy.”
“...Don’t raise death flags like that.”
Thwack.
“Ow!”